Computer freezes

Hi

For a long time on and off I have had really annoying freeze ups, it has prevented me from using the latest version of VLC player, cause it just freezes up my computer all the time.

Really pissed with my computer right now, but I was thinking could this all be down to my AV and anti-spyware programs, because last week I was having problems with Avira and a false positive, so had to uninstall it, but then on the reinstall it brought up every av/anti-spyware program/firewall I have on my computer, so could any of the below programs be conflicting?.

Avira
Spybot - Search & Destroy
SpywareBlaster
Comodo (think I just have the firewall installed)

Also fyi my OS is Windows Vista 32 bit SP2

Thanks

Lee

 

Greetings, lockett1977...

Is TeaTimer enabled? You might try disabling it, see if you get a change in symptoms...

Also, try checking your Event Viewer at or near the time of any freezes, see if anything obvious stands out...

And, of course, check the Startup tab in msconfig, see if the startup list can be trimmed of unnecessary entries...

 

I will try disabling the tea timer, this all I could find about the freeze up in the Event Viewer:

Log Name: System
Source: EventLog
Date: 10/02/2012 19:06:58
Event ID: 6008
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Lee-PC
Description:
The previous system shutdown at 19:04:14 on 10/02/2012 was unexpected.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="EventLog" />
<EventID Qualifiers="32768">6008</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-02-10T19:06:58.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>597787</EventRecordID>
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Lee-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>19:04:14</Data>
<Data>10/02/2012</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>5114</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Binary>DC07020005000A00130004000E00BC02DC07020005000A00130004000E00BC02600900003C000000010000006009000000000000B00400000100000000000000</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>

 

Hi

I am still getting a lot of freeze ups, but only when I try to stream a video, my other freeze ups havent been happening since I disabled the tea timer.

Could someone tell me what I need to do regarding the streaming?, this is my system:

Dell Inspiron 531
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 dual core processor 3600+ 1.90 GHz
2Gb RAM
32 bit Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 2 (build 6002)
NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 [Display adapter]
DELL 2007FP [Monitor] (20.2"vis, s/n TX0687810WVS, August 2007)


Not sure what other specs you need, please let me know. I have seen people suggest to turn off hardware acceleration, but my video card wont allow me to, so what I have done is to right click on the video, and I have been able to go into the settings of the video and turn it off there for that video. But this as done nothing to stop the freeze ups, I have installed the latest driver for my video card and it seems to of gotten worse. I then thought it might be because the video was in HD, so switched it off, and it still freezes up, I then thought it might be because the video is still streaming when I switch to full screen, so I waited for it to finish streaming the video then switched into fullscreen and within the space of a minute it froze up again.

The freeze ups are different, sometimes it will freeze up and the audio will also freeze and make a nasty continuous noise, and then others the video just freezes the audio still keeps playing for a bit then that will stop and it will make another noise and then the mouse arrow circle thing will freeze up.

Thanks

 

Good morning...

Looks like this could be a function of speed and/or bandwidth of your internet connection. Try this:

Go to Speedtest.net and run the test. Once the test is completed, click on 'Share This Result', click 'Forum', click 'Copy', and then paste the result in your next post.

Also, did you look in msconfig/Startups? I'm trying to see if there are any 3rd-party startups that might be affecting your streaming...

 

Hi my friend , go to Start - in Run menu type msconfig
, press Ok - uncheck all boxes apart from Avira press Apply - Ok - rebbot your machine is necessary !! :cool

 

What browser? Oddly enuf, I developed a similar problem a while ago, I thought it was my connection speed, so I had it doubled, with no joy.

Based on someone else's suggestion, I tried Google Chrome...huge difference!

I still use IE for most stuff, but for any movies or video, GC seems to work best for me.

By the way, I have a relative in this industry who works as a programmer/consultant, he tells me they have more problems with IE than any other browser. I'm not a MS basher, as I said, I use IE for most of ny browsing. Just something else to try and good luck!

 

Hi Guys

Here is the speedtest result:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1775015978.png

Here is what I have at startup (been trying to get rid of that AOL thing for ages, I guess now I can ).

I have been using Firefox mostly, its weird cause it was working no problem til yesterday evening then it just froze up, and everytime I tried to play it again within a minute it would freeze up, I have also tried it using IE8 and same thing with that, I will try Chrome now and see if it works for me, thanks for that.

Thanks


Edit: Just looking over that speedtest site, how are these guys getting such sick speeds, is it just down to them paying for better broadband or something else?.

 

Yeah, faster speeds usually translate into more $$$...on rare occasions, a complaint call to an ISP can cause a tweak or two here or there, but good luck with that...

On the other hand, a grade of D+ ain't too good, is it?

Your startups don't look too bad. Quick question: what is that DSLAGENT.EXE?

 

Another thought: the DPC Latency Checker might shed some light on what might be causing the freezes - the site gives a pretty good rundown about what the tool can do, how to use it...

 

Caliban, Take a look here.

 

Copy - thanks, Spock96. Guess my radar is tuned to anything 'agent' these days...

So, I gotta assume that that's a benign file - does it look familiar, Lee?

 

Your Welcome. I use that site all the time when it comes to stuff like that.

 

Ensure your Firefox has been upgraded to 10.1 (although FX 3x or Pale Moon 3.x might be better suited to your hardware - try Pale Moon if you need to, it won't mess your current FX profile up), there were bugs in the initial release of 10 that would cause it not to start, amongst other things, also keep your eyes peeled for another bugfix very soon!

Check that the machine isn't overheating too, a quick but careful clean out might work wonders.

Keep an eye out on the System and application logs for any new 'problems' logged.

If it might be driver related, the DPC Latency Checker is an excellent tool and reference site for troubleshooting those problems.

 

Yeh, that file does seem familiar. I tried watching the video in Chrome yesterday and I didn't have any problems. But there is some vids that I need to watch that I think are going to require me to use VLC player, I have had to use a really old version of that - think version 0.8.0 - because when I tried the latest version it would let me watch like 20 mins full screen, then it would keep freezing, so I would have to force shutdown, then when I tried it again it would keep repeatedly freezing up within the space of a minute. Thanks for all your help guys, I will try those suggestions, if VLC gives me trouble.

 

Good morning...

Sounds good...

I keep thinking this still might be a network and/or connection issue. If you do happen to continue to freeze, one more shot would be to use something like Freemake to download the video locally, then see if your symptoms change...

Keep us posted...:major

 

I kinda expected this, I downloaded the latest version of VLC, and pretty much soon as it tried to play my video it froze up, but the freeze up was different to the streaming one, what happened here was the video froze but i could still move my mouse about and minimise VLC and click on my other taskbar items, then after a little time had passed the mouse arrow froze up. That latency program you suggested, should I download that for this problem?.

Edit: Also forgot to mention in my earlier posts, could this have something to do with the amount of free space I have on my hard drive because I only have around 15 GB out of 138 GB?.

 

Was this problem with a local file or a stream? The Latency Checker is pretty much targeted at data streams...

Concerning the free space: that could very well have some bearing on the issues...Windows uses free hard drive space for buffering, swap filing, etc. - if there's not enough space available, Windows might hiccup...15 gb seems ok, but I can see where the lack of free space might cause other problems down the road...

 

You do have Vista fully updated and the latest chipset and nVidia graphics driver installed?

Hmm, that free space needs increasing to over 25% of the drive size, or you're likely to hit on slowdowns and stuttering in all sorts of areas. Defrag it too!

 

Hi Guys

I have had the freeze ups with streaming as well as when I try to watch a video through the latest version of VLC. Vista is fully updated - I have it on auto update - and I got the latest driver for my video card yesterday, not to sure about the chipset is that another word for my processor?. I defrag every week I use Smart Defrag 2 is that a good program to use?. I will get to work now on increasing my free space.

Thanks

 

No, the chipset is the main controller on the motherboard, from your specs, it looks like it could be nVidia, as could your (S)ATA controller. Check in Device Manager then visit nVidia to look for update using the data from DevMan.

Smart defrag is probably fine.

To illustrate the 25% factor, take a look at the drive graph at the top here, you'll see a pretty big drop off towards the right of it. Add fragmentation and the streaming ends up filling in gaps all over the place on the drive, HDDs are not good at collecting data from scattered areas, they work best when all the data is consecutively placed.

 

I used the scanner thing on nvidia for motherboard drivers and it brought up this, is this a motherboard driver?, cause it doesn't look like its got anything to do with motherboards. I tried googling 'GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 motherboard drivers' but couldn't really find anything.


HDMI Audio Driver 1.00.0.59
Version: 10.0059 WHQL
Release Date: 1.10.2009

I have also increased my free space to 37.5 GB, but it still froze up on me, only this time it took a minute to do it instead of 10 seconds.

 

No, that's the HD audio driver, better to search for the drivers manually there.

Once defragged, your drive should be capable of somewhat better speeds now there's more free space.

 

Is there any yellow question mark in Device Manager menu ? Run this

http://www.hdsentinel.com/

to verify your hdd's health !! :wave

 

No, there isn't any yellow question marks in there.

I tried VLC again today, I had it minimised and it was playing a mp4 file for like 15 mins i then hit the stop button and it froze my computer up again, but the weird thing is that after i rebooted, I tried playing that same video again in full screen and had no problems and was able to watch it a couple of times all the way through.

But earlier I was watching an avi file and it got around the 15 mins mark again in fullscreen and froze up, I then rebooted and when I tried that avi file again it pretty much instant froze up.

 

Just to get things clear: your machine is freezing while playing a local file with VLC Player? By local, I mean non-streaming - a file that is residing on your hard drive...

If this is the case, what happens if you try the same file with Windows Media Player?

Please forgive me if I'm sounding redundant - just trying to get a handle on these perplexing symptoms...

 

Hi

Yeh the streaming thing was solved just by using Chrome, I imagine now I have got more space - right now I have dipped below a posters suggested 25% free space figure, at the moment I have 33.6 GB out of 138 GB - that the other browsers will work.

The problem I am having now is with files on my hard drive, when I played that mp4 file there wasn't a problem apart from that one freeze up after that it was fine, allowing me to pause it and scroll back and forward. But last night I played a avi file and it worked for 15 mins then it just kept freezing, could me dipping below that 25% figure be causing that?. I have tried WMP before and it never seems to be able to play any of my files, always asking for a codec.